What Does It Take to Be a “Christian?” I have answered this question (“What does it take to be a ‘Christian’?”) here before. However, it has been a long time and so, in light of my recent claim that Donald Trump cannot be considered a Christian, and in light of readers’ calls for explanation, I will do it again. First, however, I must lay out my credentials and claims to authority. My main credentials is having been a scholar of… Read more

Is Absolute Refusal to Contemplate the Possible Existence of God Scientific? I recently returned from a very interesting conference of scientists and theologians. These meetings are all too rare. The meeting was hosted and sponsored by one of the world’s largest societies of scientists. I am not permitted to identify the society or conference yet. A news release is forthcoming, but I have no specific knowledge of it. All I know is that I am not permitted to mention specifics… Read more

Is It Time for a Return to Common Sense? Scholars of postmodernism tell me there is now no such thing as common sense. Perhaps they are right. I don’t see a lot of it. And I don’t expect “my common sense” to be shared by all. I’m elderly now and some of my common sense is probably outdated. Nevertheless, I believe there are some things that all mature, thinking individuals should know intuitively—even in this confused and confusing culture that… Read more

Is Everyone a Christian Who Claims to Be a Christian? One of my biggest frustrations as a Christian blogger who is also a noted Christian theologian is that many people seem to think that “Christianity” is simply whatever a person who claims to be a Christian says it is. A slightly more sophisticated way of making the same error is to think, as many do, that “Christianity” is simply the consensus of people who call themselves Christians. Therefore, to take… Read more

Can a Modern Scientist Believe in God and Miracles? One of the most popular, mistaken beliefs is that one cannot believe in a personal, creator God and miracles and be a credibly credentialed scientist. I have heard “talks” and read articles and books that more or less state this falsehood as a given, a presupposition. It is certainly a popular opinion. However, just as there has been an upsurge of belief in God, even the God of the Bible, among… Read more

Deeper in Christian Ethics: Discovery and Use of Middle Axioms A major question facing Christians wanting to influence secular-pagan (one or the other or both) societies that do not have any Christian or even theonomous ethos—especially in the public spaces where social policies are created and enforced—is how to influence them with specifically Christian values. This became a problem especially during the middle of the twentieth century when Christian ethicists realized that a line had been crossed in traditionally Christian… Read more

When Will This Nightmare End? Personal Musings about Trump *See the “Sidebar” below! Read it carefully. Then read “Note to commenters” at the end. Read it carefully. Don’t respond unless you have read both. The question that bedevils me almost daily is this: Is it worth it to have an American president who is (in my opinion) an egocentric, power-hungry, ego-maniac, vulgar person, filled with disdain if not hate, possibly criminal, venom-spewing, immoral head of state and government who seems… Read more

Christian Theology in a Post-Theological Church World First, it is important to define terms. By “Christian theology” here I mean the discipline that explores and explains Christian beliefs in a scholarly way—using critical thinking while acknowledging Christian sources as the material of the discipline. Those Christian sources are traditionally recognized as the Christian scriptures (Bible), Christian tradition, and contemporary culture. These traditionally exist in a hierarchy in terms of authority, but various Christian theologians express them and use them in… Read more

How Christian Institutiosn of Higher Education Should Respond to Faculty Members Whose Research Results Are Controversial First of all, before attempting to answer the implied question with a proposal, I have to say that there are many kinds of Christian institutions of higher education. Here I am ONLY referring to ones that claim academic integrity and excellence. And I am ONLY referring to ones that WANT that claim to be taken seriously. Academic integrity requires academic freedom. On the other… Read more

What God Can, Can’t, and Won’t Do This is a follow up essay to my immediately preceding post and all the caveats (rules, guidelines) included there (and in previous blog essays) hold for comments to this one. Please read that immediately preceding essay about Process Theology. This one builds on it. It seems to me important to distinguish between three things about what God does and doesn’t do. First, however, I want to make clear that I am a believer… Read more